heater takes forever to get warm

Contrary to popular belief, this does not happen.

dsi1 wrote in news:le67je$3sp$1@dont- email.me:

I didn`t pull this out of the air, I have done it. go fly a kite. KB

I don't have that problem with antifreeze splashing everywhere - not that it matters at all. A big splash would be a good sign because that would mean you've isolated the problem and it's easy to proceed from there. How the heck else would you check for a thermostat that's stuck open?

Compare temps of upper and lower radiator hose. If they are similar temperature, thermostat may be stuck open.

erature, thermostat may be stuck open.

I suppose you could do that. I wouldn't do it that way although if the radi ator doesn't have a filler cap on it, it would be an option. I'd just start the car and monitor the temperature of the hose for the thermostat opening . I'd leave the bottom hose alone.

IR thermometer.

Take a start temp upper hose at the radiator, another at the intake near the thermostat housing. Start engine. Take a temp off the intake. When it has raised 20 degrees or so check the end near the radiator. Any rise there over a couple degrees means it's open. The coolant isn't going to telegraph the rise that fast if the thermostat is closed.

Timed test.

Start engine and see how long it takes to get up to temp. (no gauge, stick a scan tool that can see live data on it to read the coolant temp, If it takes more than 5-10 minutes for the engine to get to operating temp the thermostat is open.

I wouldn't do it either way since I have no IR or OBD thingies. It looks like I'm stuck with just opening the radiator cap and seeing if the thermostat is open. Thanks for the ideas.

Spend the money on an IR unit. You will discover it is VERY handy around a vehicle. Looking for a dragging brake, bad bearing on an accessory, misfire (check temp of exhaust manifold at each cylinder) Think you have a heater problem you can usually trace the coolant flow. AC not cold enough, run it over the ducts to see if a door is blocking the air. Just some of the uses.

In the house - bad/overloaded breakers get hot. oven or furnace issues, heat loss through windows and more.

I think that what you say is true and I do love gadgets but the tools I have for the car is getting unmanageable. I have an OBDII unit but never got around to installing the 3 AA cells that it takes so it's been sitting in the little compartment of my Passat. An IR reader would be fun and useful but I'd use it mostly for cooking. OTOH, I don't need an IR reader for cooking. It seems I'm burnt out on gadgets.

I've had 3 VWs so far and all of them have had random stumbling and engine shutting down. You'd think I'd learn by now but nope. The two previous ones had faulty fuseboxes. Evidently, the Passat that I have now has a bad mass airflow sensor. To test this for this, you simply disconnect the sensor. If the car runs better, the MAF sensor is faulty. My next stop - eBay!

dsi1 wrote in news:lebgf5$bci$1@dont- email.me:

not going to have a lot of sympathy for owning a odb2 tester and not even hooking it up. that is one of the FIRST checks. No one is going to come to your place and check your car for you. you actually have to put a tiny bit of effort in yourself. KB

I don't need no stinkin' OBDII to diagnose problems. I've done quite well for 40 years. As it goes, one of those won't be of much help with a heater that won't heat, in which case, the FIRST check is to make sure the blend door is working. It won't be much help with an intermittent mass airflow sensor either. You might need one of these things but I've found them to be of limited use until a sensor has completely failed.

A good scan tool could not only show you an intermittent problem (through the snapshot data) but also allows you to see exactly what the sensors are reading so you can tell which part of the system is actually the problem.

And YES it can help diagnose a faulty heater, IF you know how to use it.

It's a very cool thing to be able to monitor all the engine subsystems. Very entertaining. I've used them before and it's good to be able to read/clear trapped error codes. If I need to use one, I will. Otherwise, the reality is that unless you understand the basic systems of your car and how they interact with each other, an OBDII won't do shit for you. It seems that a lot of car guys just shrug if there's no error codes trapped. Welcome to the new world of automobile mechanics.

That's just my opinion, but it is an awesome one. I already know how to troubleshoot faulty heaters without an electronic code reader - hopefully, you do too.

True, you need to know how the systems work. But a good bi-directional scan tool can make a 3 hour job a 20 minute job IF you know how to use it's capabilities.

If you're a professional car fixer-upper, you should get a scan tool. If you're not, you might want to pick one up. That's all I got to say about that.

I get by with a code reader. My 2003 Impala hasn't needed it yet. I should toss my timing light and dwell meter. Haven't used them in over 20 years. BTW, when my '93 Grand Am wasn't blowing cold, I put the gages on it and threw in a can of freon. Didn't do anything, and I was rushed and didn't care. Think I figured the compressor was shot. Then winter came and it wasn't blowing hot. The cable clip was to the blend door was broken. That fixed everything.

It's been a while since I've timed an engine or set points or adjusted the idle on a carb. Thank you Jesus!

I live in the tropics so fixing a busted heater is not a big priorty. OTOH, I use the AC practically every day. My joke is that as long as the AC work s, I like the car. I have a Passat wagon and when I close the blend door, i t makes a loud "Fuwauunnnkh!" It's a small wagon but the sucker weighs clos e to 2 tons. ;-0

Tom, Im curious how much (parts&labor) mixer door replacement run for LaSabre? I'm in for the same fix for my A4 with parts (mixer doors) being around $140 (for left and right one, I guess two doors are courtesy of dualzone cc).

Depends on how much crap you have to pull. On the LeSabre, if it was the actuator motor itself they are not real bad. Right side takes about an hour, left side takes about the same. Where it gets fun is if the doors themselves are broken. Then you're looking at major time as the entire instrument panel has to come out so you can get to the ductwork. At that point you should also replace the core as a precaution and check ALL the doors. That can kill a day if you haven't done it before.